After feeling like the unpredictability of the Trump presidency called for more Canadian tech and data independence, five CEOs decided to make a Canadian social network.
The social network will be called Gander and allow for text, image and video posts. The app is also built on the A T Protocol like Bluesky so it won’t be owned by a billionaire and is decentralized. However, the team is working with Canadian cloud service provider ThinkOn to get a network of homegrown servers.
This will give users the option of sending their posts to a larger decentralized network or a Canadian-owned channel instead. This Canadian-owned channel will also have to follow the rules of the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms, which should make moderation around hate speech easier.
In practice, this app’s design is somewhere between Twitter, TikTok, and Instagram. It has a full-screen vertical video section and parts that look more like Threads or Instagram. I’m sure it will change over time, though, since it’s so far out from launch. The company is hoping to open its public beta in Q4 2025.
While the app’s investors, who spoke with The Globe and Mail, have grand ambitions of replacing some of the more popular existing social media apps, I think this will end up being a smaller Canadian-only play. That said, after Twitter’s implosion, we’ve seen various other smaller networks pop up for niche communities, and I think Gander can do the same for Canadians.
The founders are also considering using digital ID verification to ensure that all service users are real and not AI bots. An early access version of the app is already running, and 9,000 members are beta testing it. You can join as well on the company’s website.
Source: The Globe and Mail
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